McDougal Trial Resumes With Alternate Juror

On their first secret straw ballot, jurors at the Susan McDougal embezzlement trial were nearly unanimous: no more delays for a trial that already has lasted a month longer than anyone had imagined.

They seemed to be of one mind when asked to choose between calling off testimony for the rest of the week or replacing Juror No. 7, who was not in his seat Wednesday morning.

Superior Court Judge Leslie Light asked jurors to cast votes by secret ballot on this question: “Shall we recess this case until Monday to accommodate the unavailability of Juror No. 7?”

The result, a resounding “No,” came as no surprise to the judge, even if he drolly observed while counting the ballots: “It wasn’t necessary to underline or use exclamation points.”

The male juror was replaced by a female alternate, changing the composition of the panel to nine women of various ages, and three young men. Juror No. 7 had seemed to be a meticulous, detail-oriented person, who took copious notes, sipped water from a plastic cup and communicated frequently with the judge by sending notes.

“A novella,” was how Light described No. 7’s final missive asking to be excused if a scheduling conflict couldn’t be resolved. As the trial lurched forward, the judge urged Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeffrey Semow and defense attorney Mark Geragos to focus on ways to end the delays that have plagued a trial expected to have ended weeks ago.

After the crisis du jour had consumed most of the morning, McDougal resumed the witness stand for a sixth day of testimony, undergoing an intricately detailed cross-examination about items charged to Zubin and Nancy Mehta--everything from a $19.99 man’s sweater to a $600 hotel bill.

McDougal worked as an assistant and a bookkeeper to Nancy Mehta between 1989 and 1992--long before her role in the Whitewater investigation of President Clinton made her a household name. McDougal spent 18 months in jail for refusing to tell a grand jury about her Arkansas business dealings with the then-governor.

McDougal, 43, is accused of forging checks and fraudulently obtaining a credit card to steal more than $150,000 from the famed conductor and his wife--although the judge has previously expressed doubt that the prosecution could prove that that much was taken.

McDougal says she had no reason to steal because Mehta would have given her anything she needed. She is the final defense witness. She probably will be followed by several rebuttal witnesses testifying for the prosecution.